9 Best Hidden Spy Apps for Android and iPhone [May 2023]

Looking to spy on someone’s phone secretly? This comprehensive guide will list down the best phone spy apps for Android and iPhone.

A simple search online will reveal at least hundreds of spy apps claiming to be the best.

But seriously, are they worth your time?

If anything, the spy app industry is one of the most shady markets with a ton of scams. If you are lucky, you might just waste money on spy apps that don’t work as advertised. In other cases, users have reported that their devices are infected with trojan malwares.

Fortunately, after 100+ hours of intensive research and $5000+ dollars spent, I have been able to weed out all the inferior products to present you with this list of carefully curated spyware apps.

If you are in a hurry, here’s the only spy app that will work almost flawlessly in all cases.

App	Features	Editor’s Comment	Rating	Get The Best Deal
	1. Best value for money 2. Powerful tracking features 3. 2000+ positive reviews	mSpy is probably the best hidden spy app for Android you could ever get your hands on. It’s the most comprehensive option with multiple tiers available depending on your needs.	10/10	Check Current Price
	1. Advance spying technology 2. Simple installation process 3. 1500+ positive reviews	Eyezy is a robust spy app built with the latest technology. It has a wide range of spying features which makes it a very complete monitoring solution. There are also multiple installation methods to make it easier for the users.	9.8/10	Check Current Price
	1. Best iPhone spy app 2. Packed with premium features 3. 1000+ positive reviews	Slightly more expensive compared to mSpy and other apps. That said, it has the most premium design and functionality. Great for users who prefer stability and ease of use.	9.5/10	Check Current Price
	1. Great reputation 2. Full suite of tools 3. 500+ positive reviews	Famisafe is part of Wondershare’s suite of monitoring tools. The company is highly reputable and it’s a good option if you are looking for a complete suite of tools all managed under one system.	7.0/10	Check Current Price
	1. Great customer support 2. Top notch user interface 3. 100+ positive reviews	A new comer to the phone tracking / spying industry. Design and user interface is top notch.	7.5/10	Check Current Price

 

What are Phone Spywares?

Spy apps are surveillance software that can be used to track a target without them knowing. These apps can monitor their cell phone usage such as their social media activities (WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, HangOuts, SnapChat), text messages, and even record their phone calls.

The best spyware applications store all recorded data on the cloud, allowing you to check the information from anywhere. This feature makes them a reliable monitoring solution for parents, employers and spouses.

9 Best Hidden Phone Spy Apps for Android and iPhone (Undetectable)

Here’s 9 of the best hidden phone spy apps for Android and iPhones:

mSpy – Best Overall Spy App

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mSpy is one of the best phone surveillance app available on the market and it is geared towards helping you monitor your children, employees, and partner’s cell phone usage. In terms of reliability and support, this is honestly as good as you can hope for. This amazing phone spy app also comes up top in our best catch a cheater apps round up.

The basic monitoring software package does not require jailbreaking and it’s one of the best choices for those who are not tech savvy and prefer to skip more complicated procedure. However, the full version of mSpy gives you unlimited access to everything that’s happening on the phone on both iPhone and Android and it does all this without alerting the target as it hides the app icon.

Regardless of which type of phone your target is using (Android or iPhone), mSpy has got you covered as it works seamlessly in both operating systems. This phone app for spying comes with all the features like monitoring of sms messages, IMs, contact list, call log, and location tracking.

To elaborate further, this phone spy app excels in activity tracking. It records all internet activities and app usage of the targeted phone in detail. Location tracking wise, this phone app utilizes advance gps technology to provide accurate real time location data.

The app comes in a jailbreak and non-jailbreak version for iPhones as well as a root and non-root version for Android users. For those who struggle with technology yet want to have full access to their child’s device, mSpy has a reliable tech support that will quickly give you answers and guide you through to installing the app onto your target device which makes it the best phone spy app available.

While the mobile phone spy app does not offer some of the more advanced features seen in its competitors, the app itself does offer all the necessary features, simple installation and an intuitive web control panel at a very competitive price.

Update: After working closely with mSpy for a couple of months (by providing them with user’s feedback), this phone spy app is now much more robust and user friendly. Don’t take my word for it. Head over to their website and check out their demo version.

For the price, it’s probably the best spy app for both Android and iPhone users.

Pricing

Update: This app no longer offers the basic version, but with our special discount, you will get the Premium version at a much cheaper price. Also, it depends on which subscription term (1 month, 3 months or 1 year) you subscribe to.

The normal monthly price for the premium plan subscription is at $48,.99/month. If you subscribe to the yearly plan, the cost per month will be greatly reduced.

Compatibility: All versions for iPhone; 4+ and above for Android

Advantages

1. Competitive Pricing
2. Compatible for both Android and iOS devices
3. Easy installation
4. Hidden spy app (not searchable on your device)
5. Activity Tracker to monitor screentime
6. GeoFencing capabilities
7. Capability to view media files
8. Features a family package to monitor multiple targets
9. Highly responsive tech support

Disadvantages

1. Lacks more advanced features

Read full mSpy review here.

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FlexiSPY – Best Hidden Android Spy Apps

FlexiSPY is one of the best phone spy app as it features some unique and incredibly useful functions not offered by other phone spy software on top of all the basic cell phone monitoring application features discussed above. The live phone call recording function stands out from the rest.

This is among the best mobile spy apps on the market for those who are more comfortable with technology and are willing to spend a bit more for advanced features. This powerful cell phone monitoring software keeps you up to date and the capability to track everything that happens on the target device remotely. The FlexiSPY Extreme version offers unmatched spy capabilities.

FlexiSPY not only gives you access to call logs, but it even lets you listen in on phone calls as they happen. Aside from that, it monitors smartphone activity and app usage closely, so you know exactly what is going on.

Other than that, the app is not limited to Android devices, but it works just as seamlessly on iOS versions phone, tablets, Nokia Symbian, and even Blackberry. For those that require technical assistance, FlexiSPY has a solid technical support that will help you out with installation, jailbreaking, and any ongoing maintenance.

This phone spyware has been around since 2005 and has certainly set the bar for advanced mobile phone monitoring and spy capabilities. The most notable features are the capacity to record and listen to live phone calls, and even listen to the ambient surroundings anytime. The bottom line is that this is a really advanced spying app that sounds something like CIA or NSA hacks.

Pricing

Lite: $29.95/month
Premium: $12/month for 12 months subscription, $33/month for 3 months subscription, $68/month

Extreme: $29.08/month for 12 months package, $66.66/month for 3 months package

Compatibility: All versions up to 9.1, Untethered 12.4 – 13.2 for iPhones; Android 4.0.4 – Android 10

Pros

1. Most powerful Android spy app available with advanced features
2. Listen in on calls real time and call recording
3. Hidden spy apps on phone
4. Ambient listening function
5. Easy to use on both Android and iOS devices
6. Preinstalled spy apps phone

Cons

1. iOS installation requires jailbreak
2. Higher pricing compared to others

XNSPY – Best iPhone Spy Apps

XNSPY is another innovative phone spy app that has been designed to spy on Android and iOS devices that offers users the capability to read your target’s text messages, track the phone’s current location, and spy on their activities on the phone without alerting the target.

Designed to allow parents and employers to track everything that happens on the cellphone, XNSPY provides some additional spying features such as monitoring social media messages (like instant messages on WhatsApp, Instagram, SnapChat, Facebook Messenger, Twotter), access to photos and videos stored in the device, as well as GPS location tracking features.

Not to mention, XNSPY is designed to track and record all browsing activity and app usage on the targeted device.

All data are uploaded onto the app’s Live Control Panel that you can access anytime to monitor multiple devices. You can quickly switch between each device on your dashboard to save plenty of time, especially when you have a lot of data to check.

One disadvantage is that XNSPY’s free customer service isn’t worth shouting about with poor response time. In any case, the company has listed solutions to commonly asked questions online for you to search on their website before needing to contact their team. Nonetheless, XNSPY is still a solid choice with all the common functionalities you’d expect from a spy app.

Pricing

Basic Edition: $29.99 per month or $59.99/year

Premium Edition: $35.99/month or $89.99/year

Compatibility: iOS 6.x up to 13.2.3; Android 4 up to 9

Pros

1. Live control panel
2. GPS location tracking
3. Solid keylogger function
4. Conveniently tracks multiple devices

Cons

1. Advanced spying features require jailbreak or need to root cell phone
2. Expensive packages compared to others
3. Slow response from customer support

iKeyMonitor – Best Budget Option

This is another easy and user-friendly cellphone monitoring app that offers many of the spy features discussed above. It even has a convenient online dashboard that lets you review the data collected from the target device. On top of that, you can even have remote control over the target phone through SMS commands and set a screen time limit.

The limitation for this app is that it requires you to root or jailbreak the cell phone to really be able to appreciate the full services of iKeyMonitor. So, if you’re not so comfortable with the procedure, you may want to look elsewhere, or you can hire other companies like Highster Mobile that can do this for you for a small fee.

Despite having a little bit more technically involved and complicated installation process, the iKeyMonitor app is a pretty solid package that features all the spying functionality advertised at a very reasonable price per month.

Although the iKeyMonitor spy software offers a keystroke logging feature that records everything a user types, you need to jailbreak/need to root the cell phone to take advantage of the functionality. Nonetheless, this app is a decent choice that is affordable with even a free trial for you to try out before making the final decision.

Price

Full: $59.99/month or $29.16/month for 12 months package

Compatibility: iOS 9.x to 12.4.x; Android 2.3 and above

Pros

1. Basic yet powerful spy app
2. Free 3 days trial
3. Powerful keylogger to monitor chat apps
4. Capture screenshots to check their phone screen
5. Parental control to limit screen time feature

Cons

1. Advanced monitoring features require jailbreak or rooting

SpyFone – Top Cell Phone Spy App

If you want the keylogger feature (check out the best Android keylogger) without the complicated procedure of rooting or jailbreaking a phone, the SpyFone may be a solid option worth considering. On top of offering a fairly reliable monitoring service for both iOS and Android target devices, SpyFone also has a dedicated support team that will quickly respond and offer support for when something goes wrong.

Feature-wise, SpyFone offers pretty much the same functionality as mSpy (in our opinion, the best spy app). On top of the typical features you’d expect, SpyFone even lets you live stream the microphone and camera access on the target mobile phone device anytime you wish. This means you get to see and hear everything that happens around the cell phone. It even has a GPS tracking feature to show you where and when your target has been in the last 24 hours.

Not only that, but SpyFone even provides a user-friendly dashboard with one of the cleanest and most intuitive user experience. Another great thing is that the company offers a one-time payment instead of a monthly plan.

The SpyFone spy app comes in two versions: jailbreak and non-jailbreak. Advanced features including social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, WeChat) monitoring requires you to jailbreak the target iOS device while Android smartphones require rooting if you want the ability to check social media instant messages. However, there is a workaround to this if you use the keylogger function.

Although SpyFone does not offer other advanced features like phone call recording, camera activation, and ambient recording, this is still a solid phone spy app software that is worth considering.

Pricing

Basic Package: $8.33/ month or $99.99/year

Premium Package: $16.66/month or $199.95/year

Xtreme Package: $24.99/month or $29/95/year

Compatibility: Works on all iOS and Android phone

Pro

1. Good technical support
2. Reliable spying app for smartphones, tablet, Windows PC and Mac for computer monitoring
3. Spying capability on all major messaging apps
4. Keylogger function
5. Access to web browsing history and multimedia files
6. Stealth mode (Hidden Spy app)
7. GPS Monitoring

Cons

1. Requires jailbreak for other advanced features
2. Need to root cell phone for full functionality on Android phones

Hoverwatch

Hoverwatch is one of the many cell phone spy apps that feature all the typical functionalities like tracks and record phone calls, texts, instant messages, locations, and visited websites. If you’re one of those that prefer to monitor your child’s movements and communications online, then Hoverwatch is the answer for you.

With this app, you get to record and download phone calls, activate a camera to take photos of anyone trying to unlock the device, remotely snap screenshots of the user’s device to let you know what is going on with the phone right now. The spy phone apps manufacturer even lets you do it all through their secure web portal.

While Hoverwatch’s pricing may be a little high, we believe it is a small price to pay considering an account with them lets you remotely track your child’s location, monitor their social media usage, view their browsing history, read their instant messages, and record incoming and outgoing calls.

Pricing

Personal Plan: $24.95/month

Professional Plan: $49.95/month

Business Plan: $149.95/month

Compatibility: Works on all android devices, MAC computers, and windows phone

Pros

1. Allows accessing browsing history easily
2. Supports Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox
3. Can capture screenshot

Cons

1. Needs to be installed into target device physically
2. GPS Locations tracking can be inaccurate

Spyic

Spyic is the best choice if you’re looking for an undetectable spy app for your target Android phone. The smartphone spy app provides users with an abundance of spy features and has already helped many concerned parents keep their kids safe from cyberbullying and strangers.

A great thing about Spyic is that it does not require rooting your Android phone to start working. The quick app installation only takes 5 minutes of your time to give you remote access to the relevant information and data you need.

With the ability to monitor text message, view call history, social media apps (WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger), instant messengers, media files, keystrokes, web activities, calendar entries, address book, running apps, web browser monitoring, and more, this cell phone spy app will help you keep a close eye on your child’s online activities and their browser history on the mobile device.

This is a simple cell phone spy software that offers basic features. Spyic is a great choice for those who are not so technologically savvy and want to skip out the more complicated rooting/jailbreaking without sacrificing spying capabilities.

Pros

1. Works without rooting
2. Stealth mode (Hidden spy apps)
3. Offers an online demo

Cons

1. Does not feature the ability to monitor live surroundings
2. Only available in a number of languages

SpyHuman

SpyHuman is yet another all-in-one spy software that does not require any complicated rooting procedure. The cell phone monitoring software offers many common features like text messages monitoring, keylogging, social media tracking, app tracking, and even some more advanced functionalities like record calls.

One interesting feature that is worth mentioning is that SpyHuman app allows you to blacklist specific phone numbers and contacts to block them from calling your child. Other than that, this spy software even offers you the capacity to listen in and record phone surroundings to help you monitor what is being said around the cell phone.

In addition to that, SpyHuman also gives users remote control to enable or disable the end user phone’s Wi-Fi or internet connection from their online account. This is a handy feature as you can control when your child’s internet access on their smartphone and help control “screen time”.

Other than spying capabilities, SpyHuman is also a great anti-theft solution as it can send you alerts when there are any SIM card changes while the GPS tracking feature that helps you locate your device without the thief knowing.

Many of the features offered on SpyHuman are available free of charge. However, if you want to use all their features, you’ll need to subscribe to their premium plan that costs as little as $9.99 a month. Overall, SpyHuman is an affordable and reliable spying app that less tech-savvy users can count on.

Pros

1. Affordable premium plan
2. Works without rooting
3. Call recording feature
4. Blacklist phone number
5. SIM Card change notification

Cons

1. Installation process can be complicated

SpyBubble

Last on our list is SpyBubble, yet another solid option to help you keep track of the phone activities on your target Android devices remotely. This phone spy app will send you detailed report on the user’s location, travel routes, phone calls, texts, social media activity, and even internet browsing history.

Not only that, but you can even count on the phone spy apps to help you keep an eye on emails, images, and videos stored in the phone’s gallery. SpyBubble does all of this in the background so as to not alert your target that you are observing them. All information is uploaded online that you can access, anytime anywhere.

If you’re worried about compatibility, the spy phone app even lets you check if your Android target device is compatible with the software before you purchase it. Once installed, you’ll be able to enjoy a reliable and intuitive user interface. The bottom line is that SpyBubble is a reliable mobile phone spy app that completes your monitoring experience and is 100% undetectable.

Pros

1. Stealth mode
2. Easy to use
3. Advanced features

Cons

1. May be expensive

Conclusion

There are many ways and spying applications that you can choose to help you monitor a smart device without notifying the target. However, most spying apps require you to have physical access to install the mobile spy app into the target phone first before giving you full control remotely. There are several options that help you circumvent this requirement by giving you access to the cell phone’s information via iCloud, but these only work on Apple devices.

To sum up, if you need to rely on monitoring app for Android devices or other devices to help you check up on your children or employee monitoring, our list above offers some of the best cell phone spy apps that you can count on.

Other spy apps include Cocospy, uMobix, Highster Mobile Spy, MobiStealth, SpyEra, MobileSpy, and Cerberus. That said, mSpy is still my top recommendation as it offers great features at an affordable price.

A Buyer’s Guide – How to Choose the Right Spy App for Spying on Mobile Devices

Before we head on to our list, let us first spend a little time talking about the aspects you need to take into consideration before purchasing a membership with a spy app company as well as the factors that differentiate a good spy app from the rest.

Are you using Android or iPhone?

You need to understand that the top spy app for Android is not necessarily also the best for iPhone devices. Since they’re different operating systems, there could be certain functionalities and capabilities that are limited within themselves. While most features are compatible with either of them, there are certain unique features that are only available on cell phone monitoring apps for Androids while some are only for iPhones.

Is jailbreaking or rooting the phone required?

While there are plenty of spyware solutions available that lets you spy on your target phone’s data and track its current location, a great deal of information that can be provided really depends on whether you root the Android device or not. Although the rooting procedure may be a little bit more complex, it provides absolute access to everything on the phone.

Apple phones, on the other hand, use a different process called jailbreaking since it runs on the iOS operating system platform. Smartphone spy apps for iOS generally can be categorized into two: those that require jailbreaking the device and those that don’t.

However, there is one notable exception that lets you get the most data out of an iPhone without the need to even install the app on your target device. Instead, what it does is that it gives you remote access to all the backups that are regularly stored by the phone into the iCloud.

Do any spy apps really work?

Obviously, not all spy apps work as advertised. Legit spywares work exactly as described in this article. Basically, it allows you to track live location, record phone calls and messages, monitor social media activities and a bunch of other features. If you are still not convinced that these apps can work, I suggest you head over to the phone spy apps we recommend above and give their demo account a test run.

Are free phone spy apps available?

There are many free phone spy apps available but there are a few reason you should to go for premium options listed above. From our testing, free apps are often limited in functionalities which greatly defeats the purpose of installing a spy app. Sometimes, these free apps might contain harmful malwares that would infect your device instead.

What makes a good spy app?

A good spy app should be able to track and monitor a wide range of cell phone activities including texts, calls and live location. Also, you should always look at legit spyware companies that have great customer support as it will save you a whole lot of hassle especially when it comes to the installation process.

Are spy apps legal?

First of all, it’s important to know that every country has their own regulations and the best way to know is to consult a local attorney. That said, in most countries, it’s perfectly fine to install a spy app simply because they provide an extra layer of security. One good example would be knowing the location of your kids.

Can someone spy on your phone without you knowing it?

Most phone spy apps are hidden from plain sight once they are being installed on your phone. Unless you scan your phone regularly with a trustable antivirus, you probably won’t know.

Key Features

Regardless of your intended purpose for installing a spy app, most mobile device spyware generally offers the same basic features. Here are a few important features of a quality spy app:

GPS Phone Tracking

Do you want to track location on the target phone without permission? This feature is especially important if you are interested in the entire location history as well as tracking the exact location of the target phone in real time. This is particularly useful especially when monitoring your kid as you will now know all the locations they have been. GPS tracking is a really nice advance feature to have.

A good mobile phone tracker app even has the option to let you set up safe zones called geo fencing. You will instantly receive notifications if and when your child leaves any of these pre-allocated safe zones.

Monitoring Text Messages

Many people now communicate via messages and they use this method to talk about their personal life, business, and even most of their secrets. It is undeniable that you can get a ton of details from texts alone and that is why this is yet another important feature that most spyware should have.

Some apps even let you log all texts that can be downloaded at a later time. This means that you get to even read someone’s phone messages that have been deleted by the target. Another great feature that certain spyware has is the ability to notify you when certain phrases and keywords such as “give me your address”, “are you alone?”, and “are your parents home?”  appear anywhere in your target phone.

Monitor Social Media Apps

With so many chatting apps available now, it can be difficult to track all the ways your child or spouse may be communicating with. Spying on conversations and (IM) instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp messages, LINE, SnapChat, Tinder, Skype, iMessages, and Viber is a bit more involved than just reading SMS text messages or view call logs and call duration. If you are interested in monitoring Snapchat activities, here’s a list of the best Snapchat spy apps.

Some apps now offer this capability in a user-friendly and easy way that lets you monitor chat conversations across multiple platforms through a dashboard on your web account browser. The ability to monitor social media conversations such as in WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger is particularly handy for parents who might be worried about cyber-bullying as you can quickly log in and check their messages, posts, and activities.

Call Logs

The capability to check the call history lets you monitor who they call and who calls them. While this is a standard feature in most mobile spy apps, some even go the extra mile to let you listen in on their conversation with their friends and make a live call intercept. Some mobile spy apps will record all calls on the phone for you to access and eavesdrop later.